Although the epidemic situation in France is rather favorable, the number of contaminations has started to rise again in recent days. Follow all the news related to Covid-19 in France and around the world.
10:01 p.m.
This Saturday, October 16, 4,899 new cases of Covid-19 were identified in twenty-four hours, according to figures from Public Health France, a total of 7,085,274 cases confirmed since the start of the epidemic.
19:41
More than 40,000 demonstrators (40,610) against the health pass were identified on Saturday by the Ministry of the Interior, which recorded 171 actions for the fourteenth consecutive Saturday of mobilization. Last Saturday, they were about 45,000 demonstrators across the country, according to the authorities, and more than 67,000 according to the militant collective Le Nombre Jaune, which publishes its own count late.
The attendance in these processions and gatherings has been declining steadily for several weeks. On September 25, 60,000 people protested against the health pass imposed by the government to counter the Covid-19 epidemic, according to the authorities’ report. In Paris, 5,000 people demonstrated on Saturday, in four different processions, according to the ministry.
5:12 p.m.
Clashes between demonstrators opposed to the establishment of the health pass and the police took place Friday at the Martinique University Hospital, with three people arrested and four wounded gendarmes, said the prefecture. The three individuals arrested, including two hospital workers, were released on Saturday after spending the night in police custody at the central police station in Fort-de-France.
No charges have yet been brought against them. The prefect of Martinique, Stanislas Cazelles, and the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), Jérôme Viguier strongly condemned the incidents that occurred at the CHU of Fort-de-France. “In this period of health emergency, all efforts must converge on the fight against the spread of the virus,” they recalled.
10:36
Russia recorded 1,002 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday in 24 hours, for the first time exceeding the 1,000 daily death mark since the start of the pandemic, while the country’s vaccination campaign has stalled. The official government tally shows 1,002 deaths and 33,208 new infections, which is a record for deaths and new cases recorded for the third consecutive day.
9:45 a.m.
Travelers vaccinated against the coronavirus arriving in England will be able from October 24 to perform an antigen test on the second day after their arrival, which is less expensive and faster than a PCR test, announced the British government. This measure comes into effect in time for the fall school vacation week, which begins on October 25.
It nevertheless excludes passengers from countries classified at risk, appearing on the red list.
9:01 am
No consensus could be found on the thorny issue of the temporary lifting of patents protecting anti-Covid vaccines, only seven weeks before a WTO ministerial meeting, the organization said in a statement Friday evening. .
This question is considered crucial to increase production and fight vaccine inequality by some, but considered a risk for the economic model of the pharmaceutical industry by others.
8:50 a.m.
Thousands of opponents to the obligation of the health pass to work, which came into force on Friday in Italy, mobilized across the country to demonstrate and block the entry of ports or warehouses, without major incidents to deplore after the violence from last weekend.
7:20 a.m.
A committee of US medical experts voted unanimously on Friday to recommend authorization of a second dose of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine.
The move could help ease feelings of uncertainty among some of the 15 million Americans who received a first dose but wondered if it would be enough to protect them, especially with the emergence of the Delta variant.